Written Answers Friday 28 July 2006

Scottish Executive

Ambulance Service

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-18263 by Mr Andy Kerr on 9 September 2005, what the average response time to an emergency call to the ambulance service was in each NHS board area in each year since 1990.

Mr Andy Kerr: The average response times to all emergency calls broken down by Health Board area are only available from 1992-93. The figures requested up to 1996-97 are listed in the following table. It should be recognised that in the mid 1990s the Scottish Ambulance Service used less sophisticated systems for recording performance and rounding of figures took place. There are differences to the classification of response times between the 1990s and since 2003-04, when priority based dispatch was introduced – i.e. we cannot compare like for like.

  

NHS Board Area
1992-93
(minutes)
1993-94
1994-95
1995-96
1996-97


Argyll and Clyde
9.0
8.0
7.9
7.5
7.6


Ayrshire and Arran
9.0
9.0
8.6
8.1
7.9


Borders
7.0
7.0
6.9
7.0
7.1


Dumfries and Galloway
7.0
7.0
8.1
7.5
7.0


Fife
7.0
7.0
6.9
7.3
7.1


Forth Valley
8.0
8.0
7.4
7.4
7.2


Grampian
7.0
7.0
7.5
6.7
6.5


Greater Glasgow
9.0
10.0
8.2
8.7
8.7


Highland
6.0
6.0
6.9
6.9
6.5


Lanarkshire
9.0
9.0
8.3
8.5
8.3


Lothian
8.0
7.0
7.4
7.7
7.5


Orkney
9.0
10.0
7.7
8.0
7.6


Shetland
10.0
9.0
8.7
8.4
8.1


Tayside
7.0
6.0
6.6
6.5
6.5


Western Isles
8.0
8.0
7.0
7.7
6.6


Scotland
8.0
8.0
7.8
7.8
7.7



  Note: *Data supplied by the Scottish Ambulance Service.

  The information requested between 1997-98 and 2004-05 has already been provided in the answer to question S2W-18263, answered on 9 September 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

  The average response time figures for 2004-05 given in the table in S2W-18263 were sourced from the Scottish Ambulance Service and were in the process of being further validated at the time the question was tabled. All but one of the figures given for 2004-05 were found to be accurate. The figure of 11.9 minutes for NHS Argyll and Clyde was found to be incorrect. The following table therefore shows the average response time to Category A calls for each Board area in 2004-05 and 2005-06, taking into account the amended figure for NHS Argyll and Clyde:

  

NHS Board Area
04-05
(minutes)
05-06


Argyll and Clyde
9.0
8.7


Ayrshire and Arran
8.6
8.4


Borders
9.2
9.3


Dumfries and Galloway
10.1
10.1


Fife
7.9
7.6


Forth Valley
8.6
8.5


Grampian
7.6
7.4


Greater Glasgow
8.9
8.9


Highland
9.5
9.7


Lanarkshire
9.6
9.4


Lothian
7.9
7.9


Orkney
10.3
10.7


Shetland
13.6
12.5


Tayside
8.2
8.0


Western Isles
10.6
11.4


Scotland
8.6
8.5



  Note: *All figures except those for NHS Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles are for responses to Category A (life-threatening) calls only. The Islands boards are average response times to all emergency incidents. Data supplied by the Scottish Ambulance Service.

  The Scottish Ambulance Service also treated 13,173 more patients within 8 minutes than it did the previous year.

Charities

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many English-based registered charities have carried out fundraising in Scotland using the designation "UK national" but have not provided any service or support in Scotland in each year since 2001.

Johann Lamont: The Scottish Executive does not hold this information. However, under the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 if the body is not registered as a charity in Scotland, but recognised as a charity under another jurisdiction, such as the Charity Commission for England and Wales, it is required to state that it is a charity registered elsewhere under section 14 of the Act. Therefore an English based charity which fundraises in Scotland is required to state that it is a charity registered in England and Wales and is unable to refer to itself as a Scottish charity.

Charities

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to make representations to Her Majesty’s Government to enable Scottish-registered charities to fundraise across the United Kingdom.

Johann Lamont: Scottish-registered charities can fundraise outside Scotland provided they comply with any relevant legislation in the jurisdiction in which they plan to fundraise. The Scottish Executive is liaising with officials in Whitehall over the development of a UK wide scheme of self regulation of fundraising which is being developed by the fundraising sector.

Concessionary Travel

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is compulsory for elderly and disabled passengers to carry the National Entitlement Card in order to receive free travel across Scotland.

Tavish Scott: Yes. As of 1 July 2006 all elderly and disabled passengers must show their National Entitlement card to benefit from free bus travel in Scotland.

Dentistry

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS dentists in NHS Tayside have been categorised as working in (a) general dental services, (b) hospital services, (c) community services and (d) more than one sector in each of the last three years.

Lewis Macdonald: The number of NHS dentists in NHS Tayside, categorised as working in general dental services, hospital dental services, community dental services and more than one sector, for each of the last three years is as follows:

  

Sector
20031
20041
20051,2


General Dental Services
178
185
208


Hospital Dental Services
68
66
66


Community Dental Services
24
25
27


More than one sector
13
12
28


All Dental Services3
257
264
273



  Sources:

  Management Information& Dental Accounting System (MIDAS).

  Medical and Dental Manpower Census (MEDMAN).

  Notes:

  1. At 30 September.

  2. Due to improvements in the collection of information on salaried dentists working in NHS General Dental Services (GDS), figures for 2005 include some GDS salaried dentists not previously recorded.

  3. Total across all sectors takes into account those who work in more than one sector. Dentists who work in more than one sector have been subtracted from the total twice.

Dentistry

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many dentists in NHS Tayside have (a) left and (b) joined the NHS in each of the last three years.

Lewis Macdonald: The number of dentists who left NHS Tayside 1,2,3  in each of the last three years is as follows:

  

Year
2003
2004
2005


Number of Dentists
43
36
35



  The number of dentists who joined NHS Tayside4,5 in each of the last three years is as follows:

  

Year
2003
2004
2005


Number of Dentists
39
43
43



  Sources:

  Management Information & Dental Accounting System (MIDAS).

  Medical and Dental Manpower Census (MEDMAN).

  Notes:

  1. NHS Dentists (general, community or hospital) who were registered to provide NHS treatment in Tayside at 30 September in one year, who were not registered to provide NHS treatment in Tayside at 30 September of the following year.

  2. Some NHS dentists may have left NHS Tayside but still provide NHS services elsewhere in Scotland.

  3. NHS dentists may cease providing NHS services on a temporary basis.

  4. NHS dentists who were registered to provide NHS treatment in Tayside at 30 September in one year, who were not registered to provide NHS treatment in Tayside at 30 September of the previous year.

  5. Some NHS dentists may have been providing NHS services elsewhere in Scotland before they joined NHS Tayside.

Dentistry

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many general dental practitioners in NHS Tayside were registered to provide treatment in each of the last three years.

Lewis Macdonald: The information requested can be found on the Scottish Health Statistics website via this link: http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/files/D1_by_NHS_board_sep05.xls .

Dentistry

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many general dental practitioners in NHS Tayside have (a) left and (b) joined the NHS in each of the last three years.

Lewis Macdonald: The information is provided in the following tables:

  Number of General Dental Practitioners who left NHS Tayside1,2; 2003 to 2005

  

Year
2003
2004
2005


No. of dentists
30
22
27 



  Number of General Dental Practitioners who Joined NHS Tayside3; 2003 to 2005

  

Year
2003
2004
2005


No. of dentists
26
29
32



  Sources:

  MIDAS (Management Information & Dental Accounting System).

  MEDMAN (Medical and Dental Manpower Census).

  Data extracted 12 July 2006.

  Notes:

  1. General dental practitioners (salaried & non-salaried) who had an open list number in NHS Tayside at 30 September one year, and who had no open list number in NHS Tayside at  30 September of the following year.

  2. General dental practitioners may cease providing GDS on a temporary basis, or may move into a different sector (i.e. community or hospital).

  3. General dental practitioners (salaried & non-salaried) who had an open list number in NHS Tayside at 30 September one year, and who had no open list numbers in NHS Tayside at 30 September of the previous year.

  Some general dental practitioners may have stopped providing GDS in NHS Tayside’s area but still provide GDS elsewhere in Scotland or conversely may have been providing GDS elsewhere in Scotland before they joined NHS Tayside’s dental list.

Dentistry

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many dentists in NHS Tayside have left the NHS in each of the last three years, broken down by age group.

Lewis Macdonald: The number of dentists who left NHS Tayside 1,2,3 in each of the last three years, broken down by age group, is as follows:

  

Age Group
Year


2003
2004
2005


Under 30
19
21
18


30 – 39
9
7
5


40 – 49
5
1
1


50 – 59
4
4
5


60 and over
6
3
6


Total
43
36
35



  Source: Management Information & Dental Accounting System (MIDAS).

  Notes:

  1. NHS dentists (general, community or hospital) who were registered to provide NHS treatment in Tayside at 30 September in one year, who were not registered to provide NHS treatment in Tayside at 30 September of the following year.

  2. NHS dentists may cease providing NHS services on a temporary basis.

  3. Some NHS dentists may have left NHS Tayside but still provide NHS services elsewhere in Scotland.

Dentistry

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS dental patients have been de-registered in NHS Tayside in the last year, broken down by month.

Lewis Macdonald: The information provided in the table below shows NHS general dental service patients in NHS Tayside whose registration status indicates withdrawn. This records only one instance of mass de-registration in Tayside in 2005-06.

  Number of General Dental Service Patients in NHS Tayside Whose Registration Status Shows Withdrawn1; April 2005 To March 2006

  

Month
Number of Patients


April 2005
24


May 2005
13


June 2005
9


July 2005
25


August 2005
18


September 2005
19


October 2005
14


November 2005
12


December 2005
6


January 2006
12


February 2006 2
2,993


March 2006
6


Total
3,151



  Source: MIDAS (Management and Dental Accounting System).

  Date extracted 13 July 2006.

  Notes:

  1. Based on patients whose registration status indicates "withdrawn" between the dates in question. This occurs when there is a request for the registration record to be withdrawn (made usually by the dentist, and subsequently approved by the NHS board). The numbers also include withdrawals carried out where more than one active registration exists for the same patient, as part of data cleansing. Some patients whose registration has been withdrawn may register with another NHS dentist elsewhere. There may also be retrospective additions to these data.

  2. 2,962 patients whose status was withdrawn during February were deregistered by one single-handed practice.

Land Register

Mr Kenneth Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications to the Land Register for first registration of title have been outstanding for more than (a) six months, (b) one year, (c) two years, (d) three years, (e) four years and (f) five years.

Johann Lamont: The length of time that an application for First Registration takes to process depends primarily on its complexity but also on other factors such as the availability of supporting documentation from applicants, the completeness of neighbouring titles and whether there are associated applications which should be processed at the same time. The current totals of applications for first registration in the Land Register that are in the course of being processed are as follows:

  

Timescale
Stock
Relative Intake


6-12 months
7,805
31,807


1-2 years
9,353
66,428


2-3 years
6,503
75,149


3-4 years
3,623
80,363


4-5 years
719
78,093


> 5 years
61
 



  Scottish Ministers set targets for Registers of Scotland as regards the average time taken to process routine applications for registration in the Land Register. In the past five years, Registers of Scotland has met all such targets.

Land Register

Mr Kenneth Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the application fee for first registration of title must be paid at the time of application.

Johann Lamont: In terms of section 4(2)(e) of the Land Registration (Scotland) Act 1979 , payment of the appropriate statutory fee must be tendered with all applications for registration, including applications for first registration of title.

Land Register

Mr Kenneth Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it estimates that applications for first registration of title will be dealt within a maximum of four months.

Johann Lamont: Scottish Ministers have set Registers of Scotland the target of achieving an average turnaround time of 100 working days for all routine (domestic) First Registration applications. Current performance against this target is 69.8 working days for all such First Registrations, which are projected to account for 85% of the total First Registration intake for the Land Register in 2006-07.

  It is not possible to complete all applications for First Registration within a limited timescale such as four months. The length of time that an application for first registration takes to process depends primarily on its complexity but also upon other factors such as the availability of supporting documentation from applicants, the completeness of neighbouring titles, the availability of current Ordnance Survey maps (e.g. for new developments), and whether there are associated applications that should be processed at the same time.

Land Register

Mr Kenneth Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether all the fee income of Registers of Scotland is used to improve the efficiency of its service.

Johann Lamont: Registers of Scotland is self-financing and operates under arrangements analogous to these applying to Trading Funds. This arrangement is provided for by the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000 . The fees that the Agency charges for its registration and information provision services are set by Scottish Ministers at a level sufficient to cover all the expenses of the Department, including the costs of improvements to the systems of registration.

  Additionally, Registers of Scotland is required, by virtue of its status, to make a return on capital employed and pay a dividend into the Scottish Consolidated Fund from its income.

Land Register

Mr Kenneth Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether consideration has been given to the introduction of a range of fees for applications for first registration of title with a higher charge securing a quicker processing time.

Johann Lamont: The Registers of Scotland seeks to provide an accurate and prompt registration service for all its customers. The speed with which an application can be processed depends primarily on complexity. Introducing a premium fee service has been considered but the conclusion was that any reduction in the time taken to process an application that attracted a higher fee would be slight and the overall effect of such a measure would be likely to increase turnaround times across the piece.

  The Registers of Scotland has recently completed a review of the fees charged for registration services, proposing an overall reduction of income from these fees of 25%. A public consultation exercise was undertaken as part of that review and the introduction of a premium service was not raised.

Registrar General for Scotland

Mr Andrew Arbuckle (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Registrar General will publish his annual report for 2005.

George Lyon: Scotland’s Population 2005 : the Registrar General’s Annual Review of Demographic Trends’ is published today. The Report contains information about births, deaths and marriages during the year, together with other demographic information. This year, for the first time, it contains statistics about civil partnerships in Scotland. A copy of the report is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 40055), or from the GROS website at www.gro-scotland.gov.uk .

Roads

Ms Maureen Watt (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it estimates it would cost each local authority to adopt all of the unadopted roads in its authority area.

Tavish Scott: This information is not held centrally. It is for each local authority to consider in the context of their own spending priorities.

Scottish Executive Staff

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many full-time equivalent civil servants were employed in Scotland in each year since 1997, broken down into those employed by (a) the Executive and associated agencies and (b) all other civil service departments and agencies in Scotland.

Mr Tom McCabe: The full-time equivalent number of civil servants employed on 31 March in each year is shown in the following table:

  

Year
Scottish Executive and Agencies
Other Civil Service1


1999
13,144.3
30,800


2000
13,488.3
31,300


2001
13,365.2
31,900


2002
13,870.1
31,900


2003
14,526.1
31,900


2004
14,922.5
33,500


2005
15,103.1
31,700


2006
15,263.0
31,300



  Note: 1. Source: Public Sector Employment in Scotland: Statistics for Q1 2006.

Scottish Executive Staff

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many full-time equivalent staff were employed by non departmental public bodies (NDPBs) in each year since 1997.

Mr Tom McCabe: Information on staff numbers employed by NDPBs between 1999 and 2006 is published as part of the Public Sector Employment Quarterly Estimates. The latest version is available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/06/29112448/0 .

  Prior to 1999, information on NDPB staff numbers was published in the annual Cabinet Office publication public bodies. Copies of the 1997 and 1998 versions are available from:

  http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/caboff/bodies97/tables/so-exb.htm.

  http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/caboff/pb98/contents.htm.